Hope

Today is the first Sunday in Advent, the beginning of the Christian year for many denominations. It’s a time of reflection ad of anticipation built on the history of salvation fro the earliest times, and culminating in the birth of Jesus the Christ.

While different churches agree that the four Sundays before Christmas represent Love, Joy Hope, and Peace, they don’t all agree on the order or the scriptures associated with each of these, and so I will freely assign each to a Sunday in Advent.

Hope for the Hebrew slaves in Egypt began the day that Moses took off his sandals in front of a burning bush on a mountain side.

Hope began for a Hebrew woman named Hannah when she knelt in a tabernacle and asked God for the favor of a son: “And she made a vow, saying, ‘Lord Almighty, if you will only look on your servant’s misery and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the Lord for all the days of his life. . . ‘” (Samuel 1:11). Hannah’s misery was relieved when she stood up, though the answer to her prayer was yet to be realized. The Spirit of God had endowed her with Hope.

Hope is a priceless essential quality in all our relationships, and especially in relating to our God. It was Hope that motivated Hannah to make her request, Hope in a God she knew only in stories and rituals, but His Spirit had given her Hope. Her prayer put in motion the great changes that would come to Israel when her son Samuel grew and led Israel. It was he who ushered in the Golden Age of Israel by anointing Israel’s first two kings, Saul and David.

What a powerful force the simple unexpected seed of Hope became in Hannah and in Moses and in all who respond to God’s Spirit in their lives.

Even the high priest failed to recognize the Spirit of God in a praying woman, but the glimmer of Hope had entered Hannah, and she kept the promise when her baby was born. One Hopeful, faithful woman was used by God to help prepare the advent of His own son. There would come others who would call Israel and all humankind back to a Hope that looks forward to salvation. Advent carries the spirit of Hope.

Love in Him,

Prue

“The Chambered Nautilus” is a poem by Oliver Wendell Holmes which has been taught and discussed in school rooms for generations in America. In it Holmes writes of the “silent toil” of the nautilus to construct an ever growing shell, into which the creature continues to inhabit and to grow. At the very last stanza the author compares the slow growing nautilus to a human soul: “Build thee more stately mansions, oh my soul, As the swift seasons roll! Leave thy low—vaulted past! Let each new temple, nobler than the last, shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast, Till thou at length art free, Leaving thine outgrown shell by life’s unresting sea!”

In discussing this poem with a high school class, I was asked, “What’s the point?” If this is about a human soul, why does he drag in a chambered nautilus? Why doesn’t he just say ‘Keep growing, soul, until you die?”’

I didn’t have a good answer then, which may be why it has come back to my mind quite often. The student was questioning the purpose of poetry itself.

“The Earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world and all who live in it; for He founded it on the seas and established it upon the waters,” (Psalm 24:1-2)

God and the soul are invisible. Nevertheless everything in creation displays the reality of God, and the labors of the nautilus give us a picture of our own growing out of smallness to the increasingly large and even limitless expanse of the kingdom of our creator God.

The metaphors in Holmes’ poem open our imagination to exotic life forms both real and imaginary: “This is the ship of pearl, which poets feign, sails the unshadowed main. . . In gulfs enchanted, where the Siren sings, and coral reefs lie bare,
Where cold sea-maids rise to sun their streaming hair”. . .

To touch the reader’s imagination, to enable us to imagine something we have never seen, is to open more and more “chambers” through which we might perceive our living God.

The poet is grateful to the nautilus for opening his mind this way: “Thanks for the heavenly message brought by thee, child of the wandering sea.”

Thanks for your insight, Mr. Holmes, for showing us more of God’s world at work in your soul. Happy Thanksgiving!!

Love in Him,

Prue

Ally, a friend of mine from California told this story about herself when she was a child.

Ally overheard her father tell her mother that they would “take the Pontiac up the coast to San Francisco and catch the circus there” on their summer vacation. What she thought she heard was, “We’ll take the pony act up the coast and join the circus in San Francisco.”

I asked her how long she believed that they were going to join the circus with a pony act. “At least a month,” she answered.

“Was it good news to you, or not?” I asked.

“Oh, yes! My only worry was that they might think that I knew how to train ponies, and I knew that I didn’t.”

“When you learned that you were taking a family vacation without ponies, were you disappointed?”

“No, not at all!” It was one of our best vacations. My parents, my brother and I were together and we had a great time.”

For at least a month Ally believed that her entire life would change as she and her family would work with a circus performing a pony act for a living, and when the reality became clear, her mind never skipped a beat. It was enough that she was with her family.

“Let the little children come to me . . . for the kindom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” (Mark 10:14)

This is very strong language for Jesus to use about those who wish to come to his Father and share His life, but these words are a spiritual window into the simplicity of soul that God looks for in His own. He looks for those for whom the Person of God is the rock of their lives; Jesus also said, “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. The Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes.!” (Matthew21:42)

One day Ally’s dad said “Hop in the car! We’re ready to go! “Where are the ponies?” asked Ally. “What ponies?” asked her dad.

It didn’t matter. Her brother was already in the car and everything was packed. They drove up the coast stopping along the way to picnic and swim, then saw the circus in San Francisco. It was a great vacation.

Love in Him, Prue

“Your love must migrate; cast off your moorings from creatures, moor yourself to the creator. Change your love, change your fear; the only things that make good or bad lives are good or bad loves.” (St.. Augustine, sermon # 313A)

The only direct preparation given to Peter in order for him to become on apostle and a leader of apostles is the direction from the mouth of Jesus: “Feed my sheep” (John 21:15), and it followed the question , “Do you love me?” asked three times. This was the only criteria that Jesus required of Peter in order for Peter to become the the apostle that he was. It is still the criteria Jesus extends to us to enter into conscious relationship with him: “Do you love me?”

Loving God is the single greatest commandment, but we seldom know what that’s really like. We love many people, places, and things in our world We cling to memories and even vain hopes, but Jesus said only, “Do you love me?”

To St. Augustine it’s clear that loving God requires a real exchange between other attachments and an invisible love. It represents a vast shift in our self-perception and in our perception of the world; and we can’t achieve in alone. It is Jesus who led Peter away and asks the question. It’s his Holy Spirit who opens our ears and eyes to God’s claim on us.

“We love because He first loved us .” (1 John 4:19) When God tells the Israelites through Moses to love Him with all their heart, mind, soul and strength, He is describing His own love for them. When Jesus quotes Moses’ commandment (Mark 12:28), he is asserting the very love that he and the Father have for their people. He desires us to share His life, a life of unfathomable love. Augustine knew this when he wrote that our love must migrate to make room for the powerful, creative love of our God.

When we walk into a room, sit down , turn on a light near our chair, and reach for the Bible, there is no one in heaven who wonders why we are there. Rather, there is joy and anticipation that we have desired to draw near to Him. Our hearts just might have begun to migrate, or maybe they are well on their way. In either case, the Holy Spirit rejoices to see us there, as He does when we seek out private time in order to pray. He is always listening, always answering.

Love in Him,

Prue

The eighth person to walk on the moon, and the first to ride on it was James Irwin in 1971. While Irwin was on the moon he experienced the presence of God in such a way that a year later he left the space program and began to preach his faith, repeating his famous statement, “Jesus walking on the earth is more important than man walking on the moon.”

What had happened was that he received a simple and direct answer to a prayer for help while he was trying unsuccessfully to implement an experiment on the moon’s surface. In the emptiness of space Irwin found fullness of life, and returned to earth to spread the word.

When I was preparing to move from Central New York to Spring, Texas, I was too busy to wonder if or how I would find Jesus in my new home. The day the movers arrived I had a sinking feeling that I was leaving everything familiar to me, and entering an entirely new environment.

The driver of the moving van said to me, “Spring, Texas! Is that the Spring that’s near Conroe, Texas?” When I answered “Yes”, he said, “Well, you’re going to God’s Country!” He was a native of Conroe.

I had thought that I was leaving God’s Country, but from that time on, I turned my face south, and stopped looking back.

“Do not be afraid or terrified…for the Lord your God goes before you; he will never leave you or forsake you.” (Deuteronomy 31:6) This promise delivered by Moses to the displaced people of Israel is the very rock that supported the whole nation as it faced the Promised Land, and afterward as they struggled to form a nation and a unified people. It is echoed generations later by the prophet Jeremiah when he wrote to the exiles in Babylon: “For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future,” (Jeremiah 29:11)

God’s plans included the gift on earth (and on the moon ) of His own son, a gift that supplied the one and only missing link in our relationship to our Father God. Jesus is the link that holds everything together between us and our Father. He lifts us out of the constraints of time, into God’s eternity. He is in fact, our Savior; and His walking our earth is indeed more important than our walking on the moon.

Love in Him,

Prue

When the weather became cooler we decided that it was safe to paint our new kitchen door which receives full sun in the afternoon. The exterior is surrounded by multicolored brick and so I matched the paint to one of the brick colors. Halfway through the painter’s job, Jack came to me and said, “Come and see the paint job. It’s pink! The door is pink!”

Indeed, the door was looking quite pink, but Roy, the painter said, “It’s a vary nice color, not exactly pink, and it matches the brick.” We all finally agreed that the door is quite handsome and not really pink, when our son-in-law stopped by and saw the door and said, “You’ve painted your door pink!” That’s all that Jack needed to hear.

This is not the first time I’ve made some noticeable mistakes using paint chips. “For now we know in part, and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect will pass away.” (1 Corinthians 13:12)

St. Paul was not writing about paint colors, but about a reality that is still largely screened from our vision, the reality of a living Christ in our midst and His spirit in our own spirits. This is the famous passage where Paul concludes with, “And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.” (1 Corinthians 13:13)

In spite of God’s being invisible, the people who knew Him best have left us an abundance of evidence of His presence with us and in the world. Even in charting faith, hope, and love, Paul sets up a pathway to the very heart of the son of God.

The Old Testament prophets endured rejection and misunderstanding to trace for us the character of God. Jesus himself spoke parable after parable to show the way and to lead the way to resurrection, a gift God gave to us.

“This is what the Lord says, “Stand at the crossroads and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is. Walk in it and find rest for yourselves.” (Jeremiah 6:16)

When it comes to misjudging paint chips, it’s good to know that “when perfection comes, the imperfect will pass away.” It’s even better to know that it’s still possible to “walk where the good way is,” and know that Someone has walked it before us and made a path of faith, hope, and love that lasts forever.

Love in Him,

Prue

Trying to print out a pamphlet in the church work room I was frustrated with the slow progress and the repeated stops of the machine, and I said to the aid who was better qualified than I, “It seems to me that in some times and places, some machines are truly capricious and arbitrary.” Walking past the open door was a man who stopped, and looking into the room said, “No! No machine is capricious or arbitrary. There is always an explanation and a reason for what it does.”

I thought that surely this man was an engineer, and almost asked him to check out our printer for us, but he had quickly walked on, not waiting to chat.

I believe that almost everyone from time to time believes that God, the creator of the universe, is in fact, capricious and arbitrary. When much of the world makes little or no sense to us, and contradictions are more common than affirmations, when no two people mean the same thing using the same words, it’s easy to believe that the arbitrary is the universal norm.

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.” (Genesis 1:1) From this unpromising start came light and life that our Creator declared “good.” The Bible outlines all of creation in an orderly progression—no capriciousness at all. as His Spirit hovers.

Thousands of years later, David the psalmist will write, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” (psalm 51:10) The Spirit that hovered over the deep is known by the Psalmist to be able to renew his own spirit. The very creative Spirit of God is recognized by David when David has sinned and wandered from his close relationship with God.

The character of God is creative and, renewing, orderly, and loving. He is the opposite of capricious and arbitrary. David experiences the emptiness when he transgresses, and knows his God well enough to return to Him for renewal and for the joy of his salvation. (vs. 12) The world is full of contradictions and strife, but the Holy Spirit of God still hovers. He never created a universe to leave it to itself, but so that He could share it with us. He has never stopped hovering and creating in us clean hearts when we come to Him to receive them. Beneath all the confusion is our God who is never capricious or arbitrary, but always loves.

Love in Him,

Prue

We turned off our porch light and extinguished the candles in the jack-o-lanterns at about 9:45 Monday night, as the doorbell had stopped ringing and the last “children” were teenagers; but this was the first Halloween since covid that we had trick-or- treaters with costumes and even full face (gruesome) masks. Spirits were buoyant , children happy, and the parents were hovering close by.

Halloween’s history may have been murky, but it was a joy to see happy healthy young people enjoying the old ritual again, and the sense of community it helped restore for our street. The same houses turned on their lights, and the same ones turned theirs off. The children were all smiles, and neighbors chatted again.

In ancient Israel God established three “community” pilgrimages when the people would travel to Jerusalem to celebrate their rescue from Egypt, their union with their God, and their bond with one another. These celebrations reinforced their whole national identity, as well as the faith of the people in their God.

Community ties keep people together and responsive to each other’s needs, but they also convey a sense of security and strength. In God’s mind these are strong bonds that are capable of producing much fruit for His Kingdom.

Jeremiah the prophet was told by God to offer wine to a tribe of Rekabites, but the tribe answered, “We do not drink wine because our forefather. . . gave us this command: “Neither you nor your descendants must ever drink wine. Also you must never build houses, sow seed or plant vineyards; you must never have any of these things, but must always live in tents.. . . We have obeyed everything our forefather Jonadab commanded us.”

Though God had not made any of those demands upon His people, the Rekabites’ faithfulness to their ancestor was counted by God as faithfulness to Himself: “The Lord Almighty, the God of Israel says, ‘Jonadab, son of Rekab will never fail to have a descendant to serve me.’” (Jeremiah 35:6, 19)

God honors faithfulness and strength in community. He chose both of those as a means of freeing His people from slavery and blessing them with good life in faithfulness. This week Halloween was for me, a snapshot of blessing in community.

Love in Him,

Prue

This week I went to the hardware store and, to my surprise as I saw shoppers buying hardware and Halloween paraphernalia, I heard Christmas music being “piped” into the aisles. For a moment it was nostalgic, but then I thought, “How extraordinary!

Some two thousand years after the birth of that obscure Jewish baby born in Israel, shop owners were celebrating the designated anniversary of his birth for two months before it occurs, in a nation that didn’t exist when he was born!” All of this is in anticipation of being able to sell more goods in the name of that birth.

Christmas has become many different things to people, but the appearance on earth of a single baby who fulfilled prophesies and grew up to display the power and love of God to His people has remained at the center for over two millennia. “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign to you, you will find the baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” (Luke 2:11&12)

Through generations, cultures, locations throughout the world these words have carried a lasting message. No matter how dimly we understand them, or even how dimly we hear them, these words continue to resonate with a message that is irresistible. It touches hopes that have been dormant and in-articulated in human souls.

To be entrusted with a holy child in our midst, to know that because human beings were co-parents with God in bringing salvation to the world, we have a deeper and higher hope than ever before. Long before Jesus was born the prophet Isaiah wrote, “For unto us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders, and he will be called “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” ( Isaiah 9:6)

To God and men and women a child is given, a joint gift. In uniting with His people in such a way, God makes us His family in a very real way, and Jesus a true brother to us. This truth is still alive in the Christian community. It hasn’t disappeared in spite of merchants using it to sell their goods. For young and old the Christmas message signals a closer communion with our God, a drawing near and staying close. The angel’s announcement of great joy has never failed, for the baby is our brother and Savior.

Love in Him,

Prue

A story is told about a polar bear in the Bronx Zoo in New York that began to decline. He lost interest in his food, and no longer cared to take a swim in the pool. He gradually refrained from coming out of his enclosure, and was seldom seen. The veterinarian found no illness or disability, but the bear was losing weight and in danger of serious illness or death if nothing was done.

Eventually one of the keepers thought he would try to rouse the bear by hiding his food in various locations around his habitat. To just about everyone’s surprise, it worked. The bear began to “hunt”, and pounce on his food, and displayed a healthy appetite to devour it. Everyone was relieved and marveled at such a simple solution. The bear had been simply bored without challenge or motivation, and the cure lasted.

When I hunt in the scriptures for a word from the Lord that speaks to my need, it revives my spirit, and I shake off my lethargy and remember my connection to a holy God: “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have have summoned you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.” (Isaiah 43:1-3)

Life in the zoo was perfectly suited to the bear for meeting his physical needs, but the deepest character of the bear was as a predator, a hunter; the zoo didn’t touch that reality until one keeper recognized the problem.

Each of us drifts away from our connection to our real character as Christians from time to time. Often God supplies a “keeper” to remind us of our deepest need in Him, but some times He waits for us to remember our roots, and turn to scripture again. Our spirits need to eat and drink at His Word. It’s all too easy to drift away, but if we listen we’ll hear a call to return. It may be a nagging discontent or an over-heard phrase or expression. It may be the loss of a good friend, or a surprise blessing. Our “keeper” never sleeps, and He looks for those who are awake to Him.

Love in Him,

Prue